I downloaded and use the Peters0n Field Guide to North American Birds app for my iPhone. It's really cool, has all the descriptions, plate images, photos of eggs, places to put your own photos of the birds you see, and recordings of the sounds, so you can listen to the calls. It also allows you to check species off your life list, or create additional lists. I like it, and it's probably a top 5 in-use app at the moment.

I was out "running" (more like plodding, but whatever) yesterday and startled a bird in the sagebrush. I wasn't sure what it was, and the thought of slogging through all 810 listed species, looking for a match seemed daunting. That made me think of how the overall list could be pared down in situations like this, and I thought, "Eureka!".

The iPhone has geolocation abilities. It also knows the date. The Peterson Field guide has range maps. Bingo! Put the two together and you can have a filter that essentially says "Show me only the birds possible in my current area, at my current time of year, based on their range maps."

I think that would be really cool. Then, when I have opportunity to be across the country, I can do the same, and see a display of only the birds in that area, during that season. I think that would make identification a bit easier. What say you?

One of the selling points I have heard in the past regarding the Macintosh vs. Wintel configuration for a personal computer, was that a Mac was not susceptible to virus attacks like a Wintel machine. This is likely a big selling point for people who don't want the added complexity of having to buy, maintain and configure a software package designed to monitor and eliminate potential virus and/or spyware on your computer.

That was a disingenuous argument at its best, because it always was vulnerable - just less so. Now, as the Macintosh goes more mainstream and increases in popularity, people who get their jollies by writing malware are targeting Macintoshes more and more.

The current preferred method of attack seems to be through Java apps on websites that access the Mac OS through the installed Java application on the Mac that runs the webapp. Last week a large attack titled "Flashback" infected anywhere between 700K and 800K Macintoshes. Apple was slow with addressing this, but finally came out with a security update last week. Mac users need to take a cue from their Wintel cousins, and be a little more cautious about what and where they are clicking out there in the wild web world.

More information can be found here, and here. Tools have been released to address the potential vulnerability if you need to check. Security companies had tools out before Apple had the fix to the OS addressed, so if you are prone to Java play on the internet with your Mac, you may want to check this out.

You may have missed my previous post about Wolfie. It still ranks at the top of my GoToList on my iPad. I recently acquired a couple more really cool apps, and thought, "Gee Slang, how about a post about some cool apps? Maybe people will respond with additional cool app recommendations!" In no particular order, here are the apps I seem to use the most, or find to be the most interesting now. (Post edit: I didn't plan this to be a "top 10" kind of thing - it just worked out that way. Toss in Stash, Dropbox and Bloomberg to make it a Lucky 13 instead):

1. iSpy: This is a collection of webcams around the world. It's good for a mindless few minutes or hours. I particularly like the ones of the cat hotel in Aspen, CO, (Cats! sleeping!) a set of bird feeders in Marshalltown, IA, doggie day-cares in Chicago, IL and Colorado Springs, CO. It has default filters for random, top rated, and most recent. You can also save your own favorites.

2. Star Walk: If you have any interest in the skies above you after dark, this is the app for you. The opening screen should be enough to get the blood moving:

Awesome, isn't it? Once the screen is showing the heavenly bodies themselves, it aligns to whatever direction and elevation you are looking. Tap on an object and tap the information icon, and all is revealed for you.

3. Waze: I admit, I don't really need this where I live, but you might. This app gives you real-time traffic data showing where you are, and where the bottlenecks are. Perfect for the second seat navigator, because you and I both know you'd never use it while driving yourself. Right?

4. Kindle: Yeah, I went there. I have a Kindle for the great outdoors (it can't be beat for bright-light reading), but I like reading in lower light locations, and my eyesight isn't what it used to be. The app works quite well both in portrait and landscape mode. I particularly like the sepia color scheme. If I'm not reading a MOBI file, I use GoodReader, and if I need to annotate, I use iAnnotatePDF. My local library has books available that I use Overdrive for. I guess books and reading are a thing for me.

5. Wundermap: I'm a weather junkie. There, I said it. That now being out in the open, this app allows me to see all the personal weather stations hooked up to the WeatherUnderground.com network. It also has weather warnings, and forecasts. Perfect.

6. MyTopo Maps: I just discovered this quite awesome app. Funny story on how I got it. I visited a local running website, and actually clicked an ad link. O_OPossibly one of maybe thirty I've clicked in my entire history using the web, and probably one of only ten that I thought I might find something truly interesting. I was right, THIS IS AWESOME! It mixes topographic maps with the aerial (Google Earth-esque) view, and has a slider that you can use to merge the view between. So, so cool. You can also manually create GPS waypoints to create "trips." Oh, and it's FREE, so there ya go. Click ad links. ;-)

7. Khan Academy: I admit, I forgot all about fraction math quite some time ago. However, fraction math is of utmost importance to my 10-year old daughter. NOW. I remembered viewing some instructional videos a while back on algebra and trig with my son online. Imagine my delight when I discovered that the Khan Academy now has an iPad app? I think you can. It not only has videos for kid-level stuff, but for adults as well: finance, history, math, science. It's all subtitled too. Sweet.

8. FeeddlerPro: I use Google to harvest RSS feeds. I like to read on my iPad. What is the most natural app? Why, of course, one that links to my Google Reader. Feeddler does just that. I creaked open my wallet for the paid Pro version. You likely will too.

9. Trailers: I don't watch TV much, and I even more rarely go to a movie. Though I enjoy them, it's hard to know what's out there without viewing the trailers. This app gives a consolidated run down on what's out there and what's forthcoming. What's pretty cool is the Calendar view where you can see what's being released when.

10. CribbagePro: Yeah, I play games occasionally. Most of the time games are played on my iPad is when one of my spawn steals it from me though. Right now, cribbage has overtaken all the others as the game of choice. CribbagePro give a pretty good game, though I would like it to not go quite so fast on the transitions. I do like the classic Mac look though. Takes me back to my original Macintosh SE days...

I don't expect anyone to agree with my selection, though a few might like some of them. Send me what you are currently finding irresistible in the comments. I am always up for new fun stuff!

I've been working the last 4+ years as a semi-road warrior working for various clients. Invariably, they all use Windows-based software. Despite that, I owned and carted around a MacBook Pro as my laptop of choice. I had it loaded with Parallels for running Windows software and client development. It all worked well: my clients got my Windows work, and my personal stuff resided on the Mac side and all was happy-clappy. This past December, I was given a Dell Precision M4500 as my new work computer. "OK," I thought, "no biggie. When I travel, I tote my iPad for anything personal and entertainment-oriented. I can do this." And I was right. I can do this, but I certainly don't enjoy it. For this argument, I am speaking specifically to what I will call the UI hardware: the plastic, glass and metal bits that me, as the user, directly interact with. The stuff "under the hood" is irrelevant to this. For the sake of no argument, I'll call that a draw: it just works for both.Man, what a cludge this Dell is. The keyboard is clunky and unresponsive compared to the Mac, and who the hell uses the ridiculous keyboard clit anyway? I grabbed pliers and popped that piece of crap out after only a day of it constantly being in the way. Please don't suggest disabling it via software. Despite following the instructions to the letter, IT DIDN'T WORK.As for the touchpad, how shall I put it? It sucks. Seemingly half the time, tapping it gets no response. The other half of the time, it interprets a tap as a tap, hold and scroll, wildly selecting anything on the screen. Worthless. After going mouse-less for 6 years, it would be tough to go back, and I don't want the added headache of making sure I have one in my travel bag all the time. I'm very sorry Dell, even at half the cost, it's still not a bargain. For me, I might think it a deal at 20% of the cost.If there ever was an argument for Mac over PC, the software world isn't where the argument lies; it's in the elegant engineering of Apple's products. Software is a sad second place to hardware in this two-horse race.I use a computer 8-10 hours per day. It used to be a pleasure to tap, tap, tap on the keys with the Mac. With the Dell, it's torture. I am not surprised at the difference in share price over the last 10 years, or that Apple is currently the most valuable company in the world with a market cap more than 14 times that of Dell. Sure, things won't stay that way, but Dell sure isn't going to close that gap with crappy UI hardware.